Have You Been Lucky In Life?

by: Nandang S Nugraha | Total views: 50 | Word Count: 629 | View PDF | Print View

 by: Charlie Badenhop

Each moment in life, "lucky" or "unlucky", is to be
savored, learned from, and appreciated. Easier said than done? Read
this heartfelt story and see for yourself.

I met an exceptional American man in Athens in my
younger years. He had a beautiful and gentle French girlfriend, and
everyone was always complimenting him and telling him how "lucky" he
was. His usual reply was something to the effect of "Lucky or unlucky
is hard for me to say, as this is only one small moment in my whole
life. But I will tell you this, at this moment, I am very definitely
enjoying myself and feeling thankful."

Shortly after meeting him he was thrown in jail in
Greece, which in those days was run by a brutal military dictator. All
his friends sat around in Athens talking about how "unlucky" he was,
since the police threw him in jail with no real evidence. When I
visited him and told him his friends felt terrible about his bad luck
he smiled warmly and said, "Lucky or unlucky is hard for me to say. But
I am sure I will have a great story to tell some day! And for this I am
thankful."

After several years in jail he was released, and he
returned to the States. He was traveling along the coast roads of
California, when he met a lovely woman in a roadside cafe, and began to
flirt with her. Unbeknownst to my friend, the woman had a boyfriend who
belonged to a gang, and the boyfriend soon appeared with his buddies
and became furious. In order to "teach my friend a lesson" they
proceeded to throw him off the side of the road, and down the rocky
expanse leading to the ocean some one hundred feet below. They left him
for dead.

Some hours later a rescue crew arrived and made their
way down the cliff and they were amazed to find that my friend was
still alive. As they slowly hoisted him back up to the roadside,
numerous bystanders remarked at how amazingly lucky he was to not have
been killed. If my friend had not been unconscious at that time it is
likely that he would have said something to the effect of "Lucky or
unlucky is hard for me to say, but I can tell you that I hurt like
hell!"

In a few days time when he had regained consciousness he
discovered that he was paralyzed from the waist down. I called him to
see how he was doing. He said to me "What would you say Charlie? Lucky
to be alive or unlucky to be paralyzed from the waist down." I had no
ready answer.

Many months later we met in person again. By this time
he had already customized his wheelchair to make it more "radical" and
he was sporting a buffed out physique from his many hours of weight
lifting. He said to me "Previously when people remarked about my life,
it was very easy for me to say that I felt neither lucky or unlucky.
Now I know very deeply that each moment, lucky or unlucky, is to be
savored. If I label my circumstances as 'lucky' what will this mean?
Will it mean that I am happy about what has happened? If I label my
circumstances as 'unlucky' what will this mean? Will it mean that I am
unhappy about what has happened? And what about tomorrow, and the day
after that, and the year after that? Will I let 'lucky' or 'unlucky'
determine how I feel about myself and how I live my life? I certainly
hope not!" He smiled warmly as always, and I was thankful to be in his
presence.

About the Author

Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from a new self-help Practice every two weeks, by subscribing to his complimentary newsletter "Pure heart, simple mind" at http://www.seishindo.org/newsletter.html

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